Glute/Ham Raises -- Why?

[quote]pitt wrote:
Straightening your leg is knee extension, a leg curl is knee flexion.[/quote]

Thanks for the clarification, DOH!!!

Sorry, they do involve knee flexion yes, but the hamstrings don’t really work as knee flexors much in compound movements such as the squat and the deadlift, their role as hip extensors is far more important. Sorry maybe I got what he said wrong but his point was that hamstrings are often not worked as knee flexors enough during compound movements, their role as hip extensor being far more important.

It’s soooo awesome cause you contract those 3 very important muscles all at once! When u do that, great things are taking place.

I know that you wouldn’t be working the hip extension and the knee flexion at the same time but if one didn’t have a GHR like myself could you do:
RDL’s, GM’s, Back Ext.,or pullthroughs
followed by:
leg curls (seated, lying, band, ball)?

Again, this is not the prefered method but a matter of neccesity. This way, though not optimum, you have trained hip extension and knee flexion in the same session.

Bump…for some educated responses. I have really wondered this for a while. CT, CW, EC, etc…anyone?

[quote]Scottish 190 wrote:
I know that you wouldn’t be working the hip extension and the knee flexion at the same time but if one didn’t have a GHR like myself could you do:
RDL’s, GM’s, Back Ext.,or pullthroughs
followed by:
leg curls (seated, lying, band, ball)?

Again, this is not the prefered method but a matter of neccesity. This way, though not optimum, you have trained hip extension and knee flexion in the same session.[/quote]

Scottish, that looks fine. I would not even go so far as to say it is not preferred. It is what it is.

I am going to preface what I am about to say with this. I own a glute/ham bench and a reverse hyper and think they are fantastic pieces of equipment.

So here goes.

Another reason glute/ham raises are so popular and recommended so strongly is b/c Dave Tate has done a fantastic job of marketing his equipment.

Granted, elitefts has made some nice modifications to them, but Glute ham benches have been around for a really long time. They’re nothing new.

Dave Tate is a smart business man and has used his website and presence in the sport and the internet very effectively. Additionally, he has leveraged Westside very well, b/c it is hard to argue with the results.

Just b/c you don’t have access to one does not doom you to a lifetime of looking like you rode in on an ostrich, or struggling with a 225 squat.

We have two top 5 IPF Open World class lifters up here and neither one of them have probably ever spent any appreciable time on a GHR.

They use RDL’s, stiff legs, leg curls,lots of conventional and sumo pulls, etc, etc.

There are effective alternatives.

Your deadlift will thank you.

agreed. when i was doing conventional pulls for olympic lifting/highland games/throwing, i found that increased volume on the glute ham was directly proportional to my 1-3 rm on conventional style pulls.

[quote]apwsearch wrote:
Scottish 190 wrote:
I know that you wouldn’t be working the hip extension and the knee flexion at the same time but if one didn’t have a GHR like myself could you do:
RDL’s, GM’s, Back Ext.,or pullthroughs
followed by:
leg curls (seated, lying, band, ball)?

Again, this is not the prefered method but a matter of neccesity. This way, though not optimum, you have trained hip extension and knee flexion in the same session.

Scottish, that looks fine. I would not even go so far as to say it is not preferred. It is what it is.

I am going to preface what I am about to say with this. I own a glute/ham bench and a reverse hyper and think they are fantastic pieces of equipment.

So here goes.

Another reason glute/ham raises are so popular and recommended so strongly is b/c Dave Tate has done a fantastic job of marketing his equipment.

Granted, elitefts has made some nice modifications to them, but Glute ham benches have been around for a really long time. They’re nothing new.

Dave Tate is a smart business man and has used his website and presence in the sport and the internet very effectively. Additionally, he has leveraged Westside very well, b/c it is hard to argue with the results.

Just b/c you don’t have access to one does not doom you to a lifetime of looking like you rode in on an ostrich, or struggling with a 225 squat.

We have two top 5 IPF Open World class lifters up here and neither one of them have probably ever spent any appreciable time on a GHR.

They use RDL’s, stiff legs, leg curls,lots of conventional and sumo pulls, etc, etc.

There are effective alternatives.[/quote]

very good post. i agree ere as well. the glute ham machine is just an exercise that developes the posterior chain very effectivley. it is one of a handfull that all are very gfood at this. pull throughes, rdl, gmings, ect are all very good too. it is just one weapon in the arsenal, though aa very good one. what i like about the glute ham, is that you can get quite effective loads with bodyweight only, even as yu get stronger on them by manipulating speed of decent, accent, footpad placement(read:distance from thigh pad) and by increasing the angle (inclining the back of the machine). for an old horse like me who has had multiple serious disc injuries, i need to keep the volume with a bar on my back or hanging form my hands under control. after working up to 550-600lbs on the pull, and 500lbs or more plus contrast(bands and chains) ob the squat, it is nice to to get extra posterior chain work in without loading my axial skeleten(spine), LOL.

to continue, i would say that if you did not have access to a true glute ham raise, i would not wast my time with “natural” glute ham raises. i have done them and i feel they are a totally different exercise with little in common with a real glute ham bench. if you do not have one of these, i would stick to the following as additional Posterior chan work (addition to squats and deadlifts) in the following order of effectiveness(imho):

  1. pull throughs,
  2. goodmornings
    3.RDL
    4.dimmel deadlifts

if you are NOT squating or doing regular deadlifts, i would put the pull throughs at the bottom of the list.